Stocking.



STATESPATENT OFFICE.'Y

and useful Improvements in Stockings, of'l Reading, in, the

` coi-dion yarns are separated one-yarn wales which are closable ritmi: -vv. nonINsoN, or nAmNdrnNNsyLvANiA,

l Hons'r co., or READING. PENNSYLVANIA. a CORPORATION or PENNSYLVANIA.'

sTocKI-uo. f

Specication of Letters Patent..

Patented Nee. 45,' i913.

' lAiualiicatioajfin-,i1December2a, 1912,; seria1-No.73s,2oo. j

To all wkom'f muy coiwe'lm:

Be it known that I, Fiumi; W`. ROBINsoN a citizen of 'the county of Berks and State of Pennsylvania, have. invented certain Vnew which' the following is a specification.

My inventionl relates vto lso-called ac-` stockings, in which two different knitted yso as to produce normally together accordion-like by v'lengthwise vention consists in providing a seamlessly knitted vstocking of this type, as. hereinafter p being specifically pointed out in the cla-im.

`heel or toe portion. Fig. 3 is another view,

- gether Accordion stockings of the fulrlfashioned type have been heretofore knitted on straight knitting machines, but my invention provides a seamless continuously knitted product with less cost.

material and' at much reduced Figure, J; indicates a seamlessaccordion stocking embodyingmy invention. Fig. 2f is a greatly enlarged fragmentary view inicating the interl-oop-ing of the yarns both legl or foot portion and for a continuously knitted connecting indicating the accordion-like closingtolengthwise stretching of the fabric indicated inFig. 2. Figs. d ,and-5 illustrate specialfeatures of circular knitting machine construction -ivhich make practicable the produetionof my improved stocking.

My improved stocking `isof the usual continuously 'knit-ted seamless type, the leg portion ai and foot portion Z) being` knitted in circular courses, while the heel portion 0 and toe portion al are produced as usual by the well known narrowingand widening operation in which only half of the circular series of needles, consecutively arranged, are used with the movement of\the cam cylinder changedv from rotary to reclprocating. In my improved construction of this type of stocking the circularly knitted leg and foot portions are made up of two different yarns, e and f, so interlooped as to produce the accordion effect referred to,l While the heel' und toe portions are knitted as usual; the dif- VI Tnitedi States, residing at' said loops 3 ofthe lighter yarn and my instretched longitudinally;

of the Wales Which result from tions, and theaccordion action of the. leg and foot portions, being' clearly illustrated in 2 and3respectively. As shown in the upper coursesof Fig. 2, each circularly knitted course 1s` made up of long single loops l, '1, of 'the` heavier yarn e, alternating with Atvvo linked-together shorter loops 2 vand 34 of the yarns@ and f respectively; said intervening linked-together loops 2l and' 3 being jointly equal in lengt-hte the' lon er 'loops' 1, and

f asQind-icated, lbeing vconnected- 'by drop-stitch portionsfi of said yarn which llo-at across the rear of 'the longer loops' l, l so. that said oneyarn loops -1,"1 of vsuccessively knitted courses form 4parallel Wiles which are`normally separated bythe intervening lines ofconnected shorter loops2-3, 2-"3,Y When tliese circular' courses reach' the heel or toe, the knitting is changed to the ordinary loopingas indicated at the lower part of Fig. 2, the. regular loops 5,- one 'or both of the yarns e, for of different yarn spliced theret-oas usual.

y The accordion action of the 'legandi foot knitting above described, is indicated: in Fig. 3, Where the fabric 'is represented as v thereby lengthening thekloops 1, 1 by addingv thereto the material of the shorter loops I2y of thesal'iie yarn e, tlieshorter loops 3 by adding thereto-the material of the floating dropstitches 4 of the same yarn f, Whileatthe same time closing ltogether laterally the Wales formed 'by' the loopsLlso as to more or less `completely conceal the lighten yarn f and thu'sfornamentally vary the appearance oftlie fabric.

The production of this improved seamless i `stocking involv'es ci-iangesy y knittingh operation `and-` mechanism 'which in the `ordinary will now be described in connection with Figs. 4 and 5; the inain features thereof.

l being that one of the two yarns which make up the circularly knitted courses of .the leg and foot portions must? be knitted` upon all the needles and the other upon alternate needles only, while the continuous yarn forming the heel and toe portions must be knitted upon certain consecutive needles as in the .ordinary widening and narrow- `ing operation. In order to produce this different looping of` the two yarns forming the leg and foot portions,

vleissIcQNoR .To 'run `NomiE & I

and correspondingly lengthening- 5, 5, being formed of alternate needles Y 10 10 of the circular series employed in'knit- 10 ting (see Fig.l5)mustbe" operated diierently from the' intervening'needles 11 11; and to accomplishthis, they are provided with hubs of greater len h than the hubs of the intervening needles, so thatI the rotary cam cyl-4 inder of' the machine may engage and Voperate these two groups' of needles asfrequired for producing the Fig. 2 texture. As

already stated however th'eknitting of the 4heeland toe portions of my improved stocking is effected in the ordinary manner, upon a consecutively arranged half of .the needles. Thus it will be seen that' while a separate grouping ofA alternately arranged needles of the vseries is required inkn'itting the legv and foot portions of my improvedstocking,

the' ordinary grouping of consecutively arquired needles,

ranged needles of the same series is also required in order to continuously produce vthe l,heel and toe portions. To show 'how this may b e satisfactorily eiected, l indicate vin Fig. 4 a special larrangement of cam cylinder by which the proper working. of. re-

or' successive portions of the stocking, maybe effected ,in a continuous operation. A

Fig. 4 shows, diagrammatically the interior"face of this special cam ring 12, developed as a plane surface. The long and short butt .needles being arranged alternately in the needle cylinder as indicated in Fig. 5, and the long butt needles-10 being lrequired to loop the heavier yarn e only A while thev short' butt needles 11 are required knitting,

with lmtting camsv 14;, 15..

i butt needles alone,

to ,loop both yarns, diring the leg and foot approximately opposite point, as indicated, Thev long and short dottedline 16 indicatesthe travel ofthe long'and short butt needles together. the long-dotted line 17 the travel of the long 4needles to passabove it,

hooked end. When the the well known split-foot',

the cam .ring is provided at one .point with a knitting cam 13,` and atan.

and the short-dotted' line 10 down into inoperation for being operated the knitting cams 14, 15. A special halving cam 25 is pro-v vided which is adjustable to three different v positions in 'an inclined slot as indicated;

the lowered position 25 Aallowing all the as two-feed leg and foot the intermediate position 25a in connection with xed cam 26', raising both short and long butt needles out of action while it is retained in that position; and the raised position v25b placing it out cam 25 is automatically operated by suitable means so as to position 25a during a half-turn of the cam ring in orderl to raise one-half the needles )out of action when the usual reciprocating knittingv for heel or toe is to be eiiiected,

and lso as to raise it to position-25b with the last-raised 'needle carried upon its is completed, a' cam 27 is suitably pressed' into the path of' the raised4 needlesaso as 'required for the i knitting described;

of action. This place and hold itin heel or toe knitting to lower them into normal action 'again for the resumption of. circular knittingj4 Whlle the same yarns that are used in Vknitting the leg and foot portions .as described, may be also used to form the diferently knitted heel and toe portions, other yarns may be introduced in wellknown 'manner as sired, thel twov different textures being continuouslv knitted in eithercase;

' My improved stocking maybe madewith l in which' case the heel and toe knitting would extend the full length of lthe foot as usual. g What- Iy claim yis:.-

A seamless stocking comprising circularlyr -knitted v,accordion-effect leg and foot portions made up of two `yarns thicknesses with-,long loops ofI the heavier yarn alternating in each course' with' inter` locked half-length loops one of eachfyafrn:

of different y A and continuous .ordinarily knitted heel and toe portions; substantially as settorth.

'In testimony whereof I anis; my signature jin presence-of two witnesses. 4 Y' FRANK W.' ROBINSON.' ,i

wiaieaes;

DJM. STEWART',

G. STEWART. 

